Gas-producer mechanism.



F. H. TREAT.

GAS PRODUCER MECHANISM.

APPLIUATION FILED MAY 4, 1908.

1,017,025. V Patented Feb. 13,1912.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0-,WASHINGTON. u c,

P. H. TREAT.

GAS PRODUCER MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4, 190a.

1,017,025. Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

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P. H. TREAT.

GAS PRODUCER MECHANISM.

ABPLIGATION FILED MAY4, 1908.

1,017,025. Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

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FRANCIS H. TREAT, 0F OLEVELAND,. OHIO.

GAS-PRODUCER MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 4, 1908.

Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

Serial No. 430,681.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, FRANCIS H. TREAT, of Cleveland, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, have invented a new and useful Gas-Producer Mechanism, of which the following is a full,

clear, and exact description, reference being.

had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of apparatus embodying my invention, partly in section; Fig. 2 is a section on the line II-II of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on the line III-III of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged elevation of a portion of the apparatus.

In the drawing, 2 represents the chamber of the gas producer having at its lower portion a grate 3 and beneath said grate a chamber at for the passage of the gas and the reception of such ashes as pass through the grate.

l5, 5 are cleaning doors.

From the chamber 4 a flue or passage 6 leads to the fines of a waste-heat boiler 7 from which the gas passes through a pipe 8 to the scrubber 9. The boiler 7 is preferably a cylindrical shell and the water contained in it is heated by the waste heat from the gas which passes through the fines, but for the purpose of affording an auxiliary supply of heat for purposes described below, I provide it with a combustion chamber 10 which may be heated with solid fuel or with gas. The burned gases from this chamber pass through a stack 11 which is controlled, for purposes described below, by means of a damper 12. This damper is controlled conformably to the pressure in the boiler by connection with the damper regulator 13 which may be of usual construction and is operated by a diaphragm or piston communicating with the boiler.

14 is the exhauster by which the gases are sucked from the producer through the scrubber. This exhauster is connected with the scrubber by a pipe 15 and is driven by an engine 16 deriving its steam from the boiler 7.

17 is a holder of usual construction for the producer gas. It is connected with the scrubber by the pipe 18, and has at the top a cam surface 19 which in the highest position of the holder actuates a rod 19 connected to a governing apparatus actuated as the holder approaches its highest position. This connects with a throttling valve 20 for cutting off or reducing the supply of live steam to the engine cylinder for reducing the speed of the engine if-'-desired. It also connects with two similar valves 21, 22 in the exhaust pipe 23 of the engine by the opening and closing of which the exhaust steam will be discharged to the atmosphere or to the fuel in the gas producer. The opening of one is coincident with the closing of the other, and rising of the holder causes the opening of the exhaust to the atmosphere and the closing of the valve leading to the producer, and the lowering of the holder the reverse. The further rise of the holder also operates a bypass valve 2 1 which will arrest the discharge of the gas from the exhauster into the holder, by opening a by-pass in the exhauster so that the gas will pass idly from one side of the exhauster to the other. The holder may be connected to all of said valves or may be connected to some of them only.

In operation of gas producers, the regulation of the amount of steam supplied to the fuel is often a serious problem. It is done with comparative ease where the steam can be blown into the producer with the air, as in the ordinary pressure producer, for the supply of air in such case will vary automatically with the current of steam by which it is induced; but serious difliculties arise in down-draft producers where the steam and air are drawn into the fuel by suction and must be separately supplied.

The utility of feeding steam to the producer with the air is that it controls the temperature of the fire and greatly increases the eiiiciency and economy of operation of the producer, but in the absence of efficient means for regulating the steam supply many operators heretofore have preferred to disuse it, although their producers were equipped with steam pipes, preferring the loss of efficiency thus occasioned, to the irregular working produced by improper feeding of steam.

In my invention the steam supply is controlled automatically in proportion to the I rate of generation of the gas, and being thus regulated in conformity to the working of the producer, it makes the working uniform and produces a uniform quality of gas. I accomplish this end by governing the steam supply by the speed of the engine which drives the exhauster. As the exhauster at each stroke of its engine piston will suck a certain volume of air into the producer charge and will draw a certain vol ume of gas'from the producer charge through the scrubbers, it can also be relied upon to govern the supply of steam which should vary directly with these conditions.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention I take the steam from the exhaust of the engine and lead it from the exhaust port by a pipe to the producer. At each stroke of the engine piston a measured volume of exhaust steam will thus be supplied to the producer, and as the generation of gas varies with the speed of the engine and the number of strokes of its piston, as above explained the ratio between the supplied.

steam and the produced gas can be kept constant and the steam supplied in exact conformity to the necessary requirements.

The engine is preferably a low pressure engine furnishing its rated power, for ex ample, at ten pounds of steam pressure. The pressure of steam in the boiler should be constant for any given adjustment of the rate of steam supply to the producer. The boiler pressure may be controlled by the operator or by means of the damper-regulator 13 which, on the falling of the pressure below the normal will open the damper 12 and thus bring into action the fire in the combustion chamber 10 supplying external heat to the boiler.

The rate of steam supply for the producer is adjusted by varying the pressure and density of the exhaust steam, which I can accomplish by a throttle valve placed in the exhaust pipe. If an increase in the ratio of steam relatively to the air is desired I close the throttle partially and cause the steam to exhaust at higher pressure and consequent density and therefore to enter the producer in greater volume when expanded to atmospheric pressure. The effect of this throttling of the exhaust in back pressure upon the engine is compensated by adjusting the safety valve and the damper-regulator so as to raise the steam pressure in the boiler. The ratio of steam to air may also be varied by throttling the gas delivery pipe of the gas producer which will put more work upon the engine and by the action of the engine governor will cause the engine to take and exhaust more steam, or it may be varied by a speeding device between the engine and the exhauster for changing their relative speeds of rotation. When the desired ratio of steam to air is thus adjusted it is maintained by the automatic control of the steam supplied to the producer from the engine which, as explained, will deliver to the producer a measured volume of steam at each stroke of the piston.

For the purpose of drying and superheating the steam supplied to the producer I prefer to lead the steam supply pipe 23 from hydrogen sulfid, would be corrosive to the boiler structure.

The auxiliary boiler furnace is also useful as a means of maintaining the required steam pressure at times when the temperature of the producer gases diminishes. This is apt to occur when the rate of gas production is suddenly increased, for such increase is usually followed by a drop in temperature of the gas which will be gradually reversed if the producer continues to operate at the increased rate, and in such case the auxiliary source of heat will automatically keep the heat of the boiler uniform. Moreover, a heavy steaming of the producer results in lowering the temperature of the producer gas.

Within the scope of my invention as defi-ned in the claims the apparatus may be modified in many ways by the skilled mechanic, since what I claim is 1. A gas producer having means for supplying steam and air thereto, an exhauster for drawing steam and air through the producer charge, an engine for driving the exhauster, a source of live steam supply for the engine, and means for causing the volume of gas produced to control the supply of live steam to the engine.

2. A gas producer having means for supplying steam and air thereto, an exhauster which draws the steam and air through the producer charge, an engine driving the exhauster, a connection leading from the exhaust of the engine to the producer, and means controlled by the volume of gas produced for varying the quantity of steam delivered from the exhaust.

8. A gas producer, an exhauster therefor, an engine for driving the exhauster, a connection for delivering exhaust steam from said engine into the producer, and valve said engine into the producer, and valve means controlled by the volume of gas delivered by the producer for controlling the amount of exhaust steam delivered to the producer from said engine and whereby a volumetric ratio between the gas produced and such delivered steam may be maintained, together with heating means for the boiler of said engine and means for regulating the pressure of steam in said boiler in accordance with the rate of steam supply to the producer; substantially as described.

5. A gas producer, an exhauster therefor, an engine for driving the exhauster, means controlled by the volume of gas produced for automatically controlling the supply of steam to the engine, a connection leading from the exhaust of the engine to the producer, means for varying the quantity of steam delivered to the producer through said connection, and means for superheating such steam before it is delivered into the producer; substantially as described.

6. A gas producer having means for supplying steam and air thereto in combination with an exhauster for drawing the gas through the producer and sucking the steam and air into the producer charge, a holder for the gases, an engine for driving the exhauster, and means actuated by rise of the holder to check the operation of the engine.

7. A gas producer having means for supplying steam and air thereto in combination with an exhauster for drawing the gas from the producer and sucking the steam and air into the producer charge, a holder for the gases, an engine for driving the exhauster, and means actuated by rise of the holder to check the operation of the engine, said means being connected with valve mechanism in the exhaust pipe of the engine.

8. The combination of a gas producer, asteam boiler heated by contact with the producer gases, an engine supplied by said boiler and having its exhaust connected to the producer, an auxiliary furnace for said boiler and means operated automatically from the producer to control the auxiliary furnace.

9. A gas producer having means for supplying steam and air thereto in combination with an exhauster for drawing the gas from the producer and sucking the steam and air into the producer charge, a holder for the gases, an engine for driving the exhauster, and means actuated by rise of the holder to check the operation of the exhauster, said means being connected with the valve mechanism of the engine exhaust pipe, to check the flowing of steam to the producer.

10. A gas producer, an exhauster therefor, an engine for driving the exhauster and having a steam supply connection leading to the producer, and means for controlling the amount of exhaust steam delivered to the producer through such connection to maintain a desired volumetric ratio between the volume of gas produced and the steam so delivered; substantially as described.

11. A gas producer, an exhauster therefor, an engine for driving the exhauster and having a steam supply connection leading to the producer, and means for controlling the amount of exhaust steam delivered to the producer through such connection to maintain a desired volumetric ratio between the volume of gas produced and the steam so delivered, together with a boiler for said engine, said boiler having surfaces exposed to the producer gas and also having a separately fired furnace; substantially as described.

12. The combination of a gas producer, a steam boiler heated by contact with the producer gases, an auxiliary furnace for said boiler and means operated automatically from the producer to control the auxiliary furnace, an exhauster driven from the steam boiler and means operating with the exhauster and adapted to deliver measured volumes of steam to the producer.

13. A gas producer having means for supplying steam and air thereto, an exhauster for drawing steam and air through the producer, an engine for driving the exhauster, a boiler for supplying said engine and arranged to be heated by the waste heat of the producer, a passage connecting the exhaust of said engine with the producer, valves controlling the steam supply and also the exhaust, a gas holder, and connections operated by the movement of the gas holder for controlling said valves, substantially as described.

14. A gas producer having means for supplying steam and air thereto, an exhauster for drawing steam and air through the producer, an engine for driving the exhauster, a boiler for supplying said engine and arranged to be heated by the waste heat of the producer, a passage connecting the exhaust of said engine with the producer, valves con trolling the steam supply and also the exhaust, a gas holder, and connections operated by the movement of the gas holder for controlling said valves, together with means for varying the rates of steam and air delivered to the producer, substantially as described.

15. A gas producer having means for supplying steam and air thereto, an exhauster for drawing steam and air through the producer, an engine for driving the exhauster, a boiler for supplying said engine and arranged to be heated by the waste heat of the producer, auxiliary heating means for said boiler, a passage connecting the exhaust of said engine with the producer, valves controlling the steam supply and also the exhaust, a gas holder, and connections operated by the movement of the gas holder for controlling said valves, substantially as described.

16. In a gas producer, means for supplying steam and air thereto, an exhauster for drawing steam and air through the producer, an engine for driving the exhauster, a passage connecting the exhaust of the engine With the producer, and means cont-rolled by the volume of gas produced to vary the Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

steam supply to said engine and thereby the exhaust steam delivered to the producer, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

FRANCIS H. TREAT.

Vitnesses:

R. J. WARDNER, LIZZIE MAXWELL.

Washington, D. 0. 

